12 Greek Words You Should Know 12 Greek Words You Should Know By Daniel Scocco Along with Latin, Greek is probably the language that most influenced other languages around the world. Many English words derive directly from Greek ones, and knowing their origin and meaning is important. Below you will find 12 Greek words that are commonly used in our society. The next time you hear someone saying “Kudos to you,” you will know where it comes from. 1. Acme The highest point of a structure. The peak or zenith of something. One could say that Rome reached the acme of its power on 117 AD, under the rule of Trajan. The acme of modular, factory-built, passively safe reactor design, however, is found in South Africa. People there have been experimenting with so-called pebble-bed reactors for decades. (The Economist) 2. Acropolis Acro means edge or extremity, while polis means city. Acropolis, therefore, refers to cities that were built with security purposes in mind. The word Acropolis is commonly associated with Greece’s capital Athens, although it can refer to any citadel, including Rome and Jerusalem.

The Beijing Olympics torch relay reached the ancient Acropolis in Athens on Saturday amid heavy police security and brief demonstrations by small groups of protesters. (New York Times) 3. Agora The Agora was an open market place, present in most cities of the ancient Greece. Today the term can be used to express any type of open assembly or congregation. The most characteristic feature of each settlement, regardless of its size, was a plaza—an open space that acted as a cemetery and may have been a marketplace. It was also, the archaeologists suspect, a place of political assembly, just as the agora in an ancient Greek city was both marketplace and legislature. (The Economist) 4. Anathema Anathema is a noun and it means a formal ban, curse or excommunication. It can also refer to someone or something extremely negative, disliked or damned. Curiously enough, the original Greek meaning for this word was “something offered to the gods.” Some thinkers argue that while collaboration may work for an online encyclopedia, it’s anathema to original works of art or scholarship, both of which require a point of view and an authorial voice. (USA Today) 5.

Anemia Anemia refers to a condition characterized by a qualitative or quantitative deficiency of the red blood cells (or of the hemoglobin). Over the years, however, the term started to appear in other contexts, referring to any deficiency that lies at the core of a system or organization. In comments to the Dallas Morning News, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, the lone dissenter in last week’s decision to keep the federal funds target at 2%, said the U.S. faces “a sustained period of anemia” and that “in the second half of this year we will broach zero growth.” Last week Fisher wanted higher rates, his fifth-straight dissent in favor of tighter policy. (The Wall Street Journal) 6. Ethos Translated literally from the Greek, ethos means “accustomed place.” It refers to a disposition or characteristics peculiar to a specific person, culture or movement. Synonyms include mentality, mindset and values. Consumerism needs this infantilist ethos because it favors laxity and leisure over discipline and denial, values childish impetuosity and juvenile narcissism over adult order and enlightened self-interest, and prefers consumption-directed play to spontaneous recreation. (Los Angeles Times) 7.

Dogma Dogma refers to the established belief or set of principles held by a religion, ideology or by any organization. Dogmas are also authoritative and undisputed. Outside of the religious context, therefore, the term tends to carry a negative connotation. Notice that the plural is either dogmata or dogmas. It’s not a new type of web, it’s just where the web has got to – it’s also a terrific excuse for much chatter on the blogging circuit, and a huge amount of dogmatism. (Financial Times) 8. Eureka The exclamation Eureka is used to celebrate a discovery, and it can be translated to “I have found!”. It is attributed to the famous Greek mathematician Archimedes. While taking a bath, he suddenly realized that the water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. He got so excited with the discovery that he left his home and started to run and shout “Eureka!” through the streets of Syracuse. Those eureka moments in the shower or on the bus when something suddenly starts to make sense only happen if you keep plugging away. (The Guardian) 9. Genesis Genesis means birth or origin.

There are many synonyms for this word, including beginning, onset, start, spring, dawn and commencement. Genesis is also the name of the first book of the Bible. And when Mr McCain headed to the safe shoals of policy wonkery, Mr Obama flayed his idea of calling for a commission to investigate the genesis of the financial crisis as the resort of politicians who don’t know what else to do. (The Economist) 10. Phobia Many people wrongly think that a phobia is a fear. In reality it is more than that. Phobia is an irrational and exaggerated fear of something. The fear can be associated with certain activities, situations, things or people. Poorer communities have a phobia of undercooked food. Very advanced societies enjoy their fish and meat either raw or very close to it. To the French their idea of cooking a steak is so perfunctory one might as well hack the thing off the cow and tuck in. (Financial Times) 11. Plethora You have a plethora when you go beyond what is needed or appropriate. It represents an excess or undesired abundance. In California, for example, some neighborhoods have been blighted by the plethora of empty homes.

Joe Minnis, a real estate agent for Prudential California, knows foreclosed homes in San Bernardino that have been systematically stripped, trashed and tagged by gang members. (Business Week) 12. Kudos Kudos means fame or glory, usually resulting from an important act or achievement. It is interesting to notice that in Greek and in the Standard British English, Kudos is a singular noun. Inside the United States, however, it is often used in a plural form (e.g., You deserve many kudos for this accomplishment!) They deserve the kudos because they could be deemed responsible for the marked improvement in the commercials during Super Bowl XL last night. (New York Times) Subscribe to Receive our Articles and Exercises via Email You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed! Subscribers get access to our exercise archives, writing courses, writing jobs and much more! You'll also get three bonus ebooks completely free! 97 Responses to “12 Greek Words You Should Know” mmhan on September 29, 2008 7:38 pm this is off-topic. But did i see a resemblance of something in that picture?

😀 Maeve on September 29, 2008 10:30 pm Daniel, on September 29, 2008 11:17 pm Great ~ thanks for posting! on September 30, 2008 5:05 am Hahaha, the penis army strikes with their greek expressions! whorfin on September 30, 2008 5:15 am mmhan, are you referring to the phallic shape of the helmet? If so, then yes, you were the only one to notice. Patrick on September 30, 2008 5:33 am Interestingly if you take number 3 (Agora) and number 10 (phobia) you get “Agoraphobia”, literally the “fear of the marketplace”. Or more commonly, fear of crowds or groups of people.

Kurt S on September 30, 2008 6:16 am @mmhan-you have a dirty mind…..but I saw it too so I shouldn’t talk lol subcorpus on September 30, 2008 6:59 am good post … on September 30, 2008 8:59 am How can this list not include “kleos”?!? jared on September 30, 2008 10:37 am informative 😉 on September 30, 2008 11:43 am Great stuff, I’m glad I found your site. How do we pronounce no.1? Ac-me or A-cam? kidsAfoodSource on September 30, 2008 12:22 pm Ummm I am not sure how any of these are really “geek words”. As a geek… let me help you out… Crapplet, Decaflon, Egosurfing, Grantartica, Hipatitis, Nyetscape, Treeware, Assmosis, Beepilepsy, Bozone, Chips and Salsa.

There are a few to get you started. As a rule… None Geeks should not comment on the geek culture. Symeon on September 30, 2008 12:49 pm Good article, Daniel. Regarding #2, however: – “Acro” (“Akri” in Greeek) doesn’t mean high, but “edge”. Consequently: – Acropolis does not refer to cities that were built on elevated grounds. Athens is not only not built on evevated grounds but, in fact, in a basin. “Acropolis” means “city edge”. The highest point being one of the edges, and the best spot to defend against attackers, “Acropolis” refers to the defensive structure where the citizens would go to if the city was attacked. Consequently: – The word Acropolis is not commonly associated with Greece’s capital Athens, but the defensive structure of the Acropolis in its centre. And yes, it’s a generic term that can refer to any structure appropriate for defense/resistance within a city.

Daniel Scocco on September 30, 2008 3:50 pm @achilles, I believe kleos is a bit less used than the 12 words on the list. @kidsAfoodSource, you say “As a rule… None Geeks should not comment on the geek culture.” You got be kidding me :)? @Symeon, you are correct, I will correct the article. Copywriters Needed/ No Experience Required- $200/hr on September 30, 2008 4:10 pm I use to study greek in college and always found their religion and culture quite fascinating. I use to know all of the greek mythology books and their “gods” like Zeus, Hercules, etc. That was some food for thought about the greek words.. thanks. Bri on September 30, 2008 7:03 pm @ Kidsafoodsource: Perhaps you misread “gReek” for “geek” and I assume you skipped over the intro ?? SheGoddess on September 30, 2008 7:05 pm Fun post. How about thanatos?

zulubanshee on September 30, 2008 7:25 pm One very apropos word for out times was left off: hybris. DC MATTHEWS on September 30, 2008 10:23 pm I’LL JUST STICK WITH ” ITS ALL GREEK TO ME.” (LOL) keltickal on September 30, 2008 10:37 pm How about apocalypse? The word in Greek means revelation but it has much a greater and terrible meaning in the Christian tradition. Jason King on September 30, 2008 11:17 pm Thanks for the writing tips. Geeks bearing gifts? design on October 01, 2008 12:31 am Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas??

Squeedle on October 01, 2008 1:18 am Don’t forget “myriad,” meaning literally ten thousand, but in common use just means “a metric buttload,” or the equivalent 🙂 MissLiberty on October 01, 2008 1:55 am Was surprised I knew most of them! thanks! Ibod Catooga on October 01, 2008 4:52 am My girlfriend sure does love Greek. Yorkali on October 01, 2008 3:12 pm that Obama bit is incorrect. It was McCain that called for the commision. temp- on October 04, 2008 1:33 pm just posting to thank you guys Dave on October 04, 2008 11:22 pm What a real delight it is looking at a group of cretins displaying their ignorance. How anyone can actually sign a name to a comment as dribblingly banal and pointless as “it’s all greek to me” defies belief. I have a kitchen timer which is probably more intelligent than he is.

And what a joy to see Kidsafoodsource grappling with words of more than 2 syllables, making a brave attempt to spell “non” and only getting one letter wrong. As for “my girlfriend sure does love Greek” – are we supposed to be in awe of this dibblebrain? Am I to be impressed that he actually has a girlfriend? or that he actually has a penis? I despair. What we need is a cull. pip pip Mina on October 05, 2008 3:42 pm Nice post! However these are not the most frequent Greek words in common use in the English language… most people don’t realise that words like music, rhythm and economy for example are 100% Greek. Kudos surprised me… I’m Greek, and I can’t quite match it to its Greek equivalent! Are you sure it’s Greek? Do we have any etymology details? Glad I found this site, it’s really useful:-) Daniel Scocco on October 06, 2008 11:22 am @Mina, I think we need to draw a line between Greek words and English words that derive from Greek.

For example plethora is essentially a Greek word, though in Greek it was spelled plethore if I am not wrong. Economy, however, is an English word (we can see that by the spelling) that has its origins on the Greek oikonomos. Consequently, including those English words that have a Greek origin would not be that useful. I am sure pretty much every one knows the meaning of music, rhythm or economy 🙂 . As for the etymology of Kudos, I believe it comes from the Greek word kyddos, which means glory and fame.

Mina on October 06, 2008 12:25 pm OK, understood, as economy in Greek is oikonomia, rhythm is rhythmos, music is musiki, so I get your point:-) However, plethora is indeed plethora (in modern Greek), but it does not necessarily mean “too” much, undesired abundance; just abundance, whether desired or not… I checked kudos on the Internet, it is indeed Greek, however ancient… (it’s been years since I finished high school, so I don’t remember much…) Check out and , you may find them interesting;-) Alina on October 11, 2008 5:59 pm I liked the article, but I have to say that we can’t have the exast translation (or meaning) of any word cause actually one word has 2-3 meanings in one language. People just pick one and say it’s the right one… I speak Greek and Russian (they’re my “first” languages) and I believe that you should know thow the language to say just anything about its words.

ps: oikonomia (“economics” in Greek) sounds like “ee-ko-no-mee-ah” with the stress on “mee”. and “etymology” is also Greek) Alina on October 13, 2008 9:00 am @Aline You said: “I liked the article, but I have to say that we can’t have the exast translation (or meaning) of any word cause actually one word has 2-3 meanings in one language. People just pick one and say it’s the right one…” Well I don’t agree with that. Languages borrow words from other languages all the time. It is the common usage that will determine what meaning it will have, regardless of how many meanings it had on its original language. You are assuming that languages are something static, but in reality they are dynamic, they evolve all the time, and it is how people use them that will determine in what direction they will evolve. Peter on November 11, 2008 7:14 am “Acro” (”Akri” in Greeek) doesn’t mean high, but “edge”.

Consequently: Well, actually, highest point, peak, top, extreme; and akro- is correct in ancient Greek (are you a modern Greek speaker?); e.g., Liddell-Scott gives: ἀκρόλις, -εως, ἡ the upper or higher city, hence the citadel, castle, Lat. arx, … As for the etymology of Kudos, I believe it comes from the Greek word kyddos, which means glory and fame. Only one “d”; long “u”: κῦδος (a neuter noun meaning “glory, fame”); distinguished from κύδος (a masculine noun meaning “reproach, abuse”) we can’t have the exast translation (or meaning) of any word cause actually one word has 2-3 meanings in one language. People just pick one and say it’s the right one Well, it’s the right one in English; what it means in modern Greek isn’t really relevant (and may be different from what it meant in ancient Greek, too). Sometimes English words borrowed from other languages have a meaning completely different to that in the language it’s borrowed from.

ps: oikonomia (”economics” in Greek) sounds like “ee-ko-no-mee-ah” with the stress on “mee” Modern Greek has lost the vowel distinction, but the initial syllable was more like the “oi” in “oil” in ancient Greek, and it had a tone accent, like modern Japanese, not stress. Peter on November 11, 2008 7:16 am Bah. Of course, Liddell-Scott doesn’t misspell it ἀκρόλις, it spells it correctly: ἀκρόπολις! Alina on November 11, 2008 1:04 pm to Peter: are you Greek? well, I am. Stresses are still important. Wrong stress – wrong word. (άλλα and αλλά are two different words) In schools Greeks learn the Ancient Greek language and the modern Greek, so I am sure in what I’ve said and I didn’t mean to confuse you. Peter on November 12, 2008 2:32 am Alina: no, I’m not Greek.

I study Greek and Latin. I mean ancient Greek, not modern, of course; I don’t know much at all about the modern language, but I know there have in the past been “political” arguments between Greek speakers and scholars about the pronunciation of ancient Greek, with a group of Greek speakers insisting that the modern pronunciation is pretty much how it’s always been pronounced – linguistic studies disagree, and I think that argument ended a long time ago, but I don’t know what pronunciation of ancient Greek is taught in Greek schools (e.g., in ancient Greek, β was pronounced like “b”, not “v” as in modern Greek, and the vowels were all distinct). I’m not denying that accent is important in distinguishing the meaning of words, but ancient Greek used a tone accent rather than stress – the three accent marks introduced in Byzantine writing ~600AD (´ vs. ῀ vs. `) originally denoted a rising tone over the syllable vs. rising-and-falling on the same syllable vs. something else (it’s not entirely clear what ` sounded like), although the tone accent had apparently been lost already (replaced with stress accent that doesn’t distinguish between the three different accent marks) by that time.

(Most modern learners of the ancient language are told to use a stress accent, too) FWIW, there are some recordings of fragments of ancient Greek being read in the restored pronunciation here: . Peter on November 12, 2008 9:36 am Alina: no, I’m not Greek. I study Greek and Latin – I mean ancient Greek, not modern, of course; I don’t know much at all about the modern language, but I know there have in the past been “political” arguments between Greek speakers and scholars about the pronunciation of ancient Greek, with a group of Greek speakers insisting that the modern pronunciation is pretty much how it’s always been pronounced – linguistic studies disagree, and I think that argument ended a long time ago, but I don’t know what pronunciation of ancient Greek is taught in Greek schools (e.g., in ancient Greek, β was pronounced like “b”, not “v” as in modern Greek, and the vowels were all distinct). I’m not denying that accent is important in distinguishing the meaning of words, but ancient Greek used a tone accent rather than stress – the three accent marks introduced in Byzantine writing ~600AD (´ vs. ῀ vs.

`) originally denoted a rising tone over the syllable vs. rising-and-falling on the same syllable vs. something else (it’s not entirely clear what ` sounded like), although the tone accent had apparently been lost already (replaced with stress accent that doesn’t distinguish between the three different accent marks) by that time. (Most modern learners of the ancient language are told to use a stress accent, too, BTW) FWIW, there are some recordings of fragments of ancient Greek being read in the restored ancient pronunciation here: . samantha on December 11, 2008 12:54 am Good job1 But but next time you should put Greek words on that are commonly used today in our overy day English; Their origin, Meaning, and how they relate John Neos Nabis on February 16, 2009 2:04 pm It is interesting how 12 greek words can create a heated debate with a lot of nonsense too. To ignorant people, Greek seems a language that is old and intimidating but the reality is not so hard to grasp.

The English language has a huge debt to Greek (inc.Latin) – as many of the words are either directly or indirectly derived from Greek words. Many English playwrites and scholars can state the beauty of the English Language in comparison to other modern languages but without Greek grammar and words – it would be very different indeed. Ellinika yia olous opious eiste!!! Nabis Camille on March 17, 2009 1:55 am This is quite a fun list. I was a bit surprised to see ethos but not it’s usual partners logos and pathos. Those guys are important too. I was thinking the list was going to be more about etymology, like maybe “demos – people Ex: democracy, demographics” but this is cool too. I studied Latin for 3 years so I’m quite into etymology. Zan on May 08, 2009 6:04 am ah.

the consequences of free speech in the internet… so tat ppl of all sorts, even spellin’ uptights, etc, wans to magnify & miss the pt of this colum… To Alina: ‘gnwthi ton dialekton’ is what u wanna say, yes? To Peter: so the marks are given only from 600AD? that makes their presence very suspicious in the milenia BEFORE then, wouldn’t it?… Peter on June 13, 2009 7:41 am that makes their presence very suspicious in the milenia BEFORE then, wouldn’t it? I don’t know the exact year they were introduced, of course; I’m not saying it was 600AD and not 599AD…actually, Mastronarde says “the practice of marking accents was initiated by literary scholars in Alexandria ca. 200 B.C.E. […] In the ninth century C.E.

Byzantine scholars modified the accent-marking system, producing the conventions we now follow.” So: the modern system is a few hundred years later than I thought, but there were some sort of accent marks in the Hellenistic period, which I didn’t know (didn’t remember; I must have read that passage in Mastronarde before) rosie on June 18, 2009 8:43 pm Hi you can relly use this website it is sos cool and also a great use of your time you also get to understand what every prefix means in greek in its own special way malignedtruth on October 01, 2009 11:48 pm There is a plethora of comments, thusly contributing to the anemia of the discussion! Mahendra de Silva on October 07, 2009 7:15 am I am from Sri Lanka (that little island off the tip of S.India). My mother tongue is Sinhala. This belongs to the Indo-Aryan language basket. North Indian settlers introduced this language around 6-5 centuries B.C.E.

The commonly used Sinhala word for cow/bull is “harakka” This word has no roots in Sanskrit, Bengali or Pali the North Indian languages that have nourished Sinhala. (The word “gava” which is of N.Indian origin is used in more refined Sinhala for cow/bull. Records show that there was a Greek Quarter in the ancient Sri Lanka capital Anuradhapura. Can you enlighten me whether “harakka’ is an old Greek word for cow/bull Thank you lejski3 on October 23, 2009 11:02 am Wot a gr8 site! As a monoglot English-speaking proud Welshman, [spot the contradiction?], I am eager to learn from all u clever academics out there, especially the arse-clenching snobs who give me the biggest laughs. Carry on writing please, as Sid James might have sed. [i spels good reely I just wated to join in the fun!].

sharkra on November 04, 2009 3:42 am do any boby no wht omicron means please tel me now so i won’t get a ” F” on my report because it is due on Wednesday Nov 4,2009. pavan poovanna K R on December 26, 2009 2:52 pm greek words i will i weant sament soon will weting corey on January 21, 2010 11:04 pm yo its me again i have not been here today and u no who is smart? it Selena Gomez! billy Jacobson on March 15, 2010 4:10 pm Why are those words inportant? Me on June 16, 2010 12:58 pm It’s a bit late, but to answer “sharkra” omikron is the Greek letter “ο / Ο” (Όμικρον).

Omikron means “ο-μικρόν” or o-small in English, instead of “ω / Ω” omega (Ωμέγα) which means o-mega (or great if you like) and it comes to replace the double “o” (omikron) in some words like the “χους-χοός-χόομα” which turns to “χώμα” (earth). “Mahendra de Silva” : haraka (χάρακας / χάρακα) in Greek means the ruler. I don’t have in mind something else. As about Mr. Peter “β” in Ancient Greek as well as in Modern was pronounced in the exact same way as “v” and not “b”. In English you say barbarian which comes from the Greek word “Βάρβαρος” but it is pronounced as “varvaros” and not “barbaros”. You are right when you say that Ancient Greeks did not use stress marks, they used the tone accent and the stress marks were introduced to adopt this tone accent into the written word. And that was some centuries before Byzantine Empire.

And last but not least “οι” in “οικονομία” (oi in oikonomia) is pronounced like “ea” in “leak” and not like “oi” in “oil”. In general “οι” is pronounced always like “ea” in “leak” except when it is written like “οϊ” (with dialytika “διαλυτικά” or umlaut in Deutsch) where in that case it is pronounced like “oi” in “oil”. Apologies ( or Απολογίες in Greek) for the long text. Peter on June 23, 2010 4:12 am As about Mr. Peter “β” in Ancient Greek as well as in Modern was pronounced in the exact same way as “v” and not “b”. Rubbish; It’s well known that in the classical period β was /b/; the change to /v/ is hard to date, but may have come as late as the 9th century AD, according to W.

Sidney Allen in Vox Graeca; certainly not until long after the classical period (i.e., 5th c. BC). (The reason we pronounce “βαρβαρος” as “barbarian” in English is because it came into English from Latin, and into Latin at a period when Greek β was still pronounced /b/) And last but not least “οι” in “οικονομία” (oi in oikonomia) is pronounced like “ea” in “leak” and not like “oi” in “oil”. Again, a later development. on July 15, 2010 4:46 pm Hahahaha Sorry fellows but Peter clearly knows what he is talking about. Besides, he is referencing what he’s saying and nobody else is. George on August 10, 2010 3:43 pm Funny how non-Greek scholars always seem to insist that ancient Greek was pronounced like English, dismissing the objections of actual Greeks. It’s like someone who’s never been at sea but has read about it insisting he’d make a better captain of an old sailing ship than a modern oil tanker captain would.

Peter on August 12, 2010 10:21 am Whachoo talkin’ ’bout George? No one says it was pronounced anything like English. English-speaking learners are usually told not to try to pronounce it properly (i.e., in the reconstructed pronunciation) because it has sounds foreign to English that English-speakers have a hard time producing or distinguishing from other sounds (e.g., can’t help pronouncing π as φ in most places, can’t tell them apart; can’t pronounce ευ). Why should anyone listen to “actual Greeks”? They don’t speak ancient Greek; they speak modern Greek. Would you tell, say, a Chinese scholar who had spent his life studying Middle English that you knew how Chaucer pronounced words better than he did, just because you’re English and so was Chaucer? You’d have to be a certifiable idiot!

Peter on August 12, 2010 10:53 am (And note: the difference between modern English and Middle English — a language largely unrecognizable as English by most modern Speakers — is only about 700 years; the difference between ancient and modern Greek is 2500 years — more than 3½ times as long!) cindy on August 25, 2010 11:17 pm I thank you Daniel for opening our minds up to all the great opinions. Rob on September 08, 2010 1:01 am Very neat. Slowly working my way into Greek so I appreciate some of these words. George on September 08, 2010 1:20 pm I mean how you say beta was pronounced “b”, not “v”, and omicron iota (sorry, I don’t know how to change the font to greek letters) was pronounced “oi” as in “oil” instead of “ee”. Some other examples are how you often see English speakers pronouncing letters like “mu” instead of “mi” or “pie” instead of “pee”.

All of these examples are using pronounciations that would be more familiar to English speakers than Greek speakers. As for your analogy of an English speaker telling a Chinese scholar of Middle English how to pronounce things, sure, is Middle English different from Modern English? Yes. But is it as foreign to a Modern English speaker as it would be to a Chinese speaker? No. Afro dity on September 16, 2010 2:50 am “I use to know all of the greek mythology books and their “gods” like Zeus, Hercules, etc” Excellent. You say you knew these gods: what did they say to you and how often did you meet? Peter on September 22, 2010 3:39 am I mean how you say beta was pronounced “b”, not “v”, and omicron iota (sorry, I don’t know how to change the font to greek letters) was pronounced “oi” as in “oil” instead of “ee”. That’s how they were pronounced by ancient Greeks. Some other examples are how you often see English speakers pronouncing letters like “mu” instead of “mi” or “pie” instead of “pee”.

That’s the English pronunciation, not the Greek; i.e., English-speaking Classicists who use the reconstructed pronunciation say something more like “pee” than “pie”, when speaking Greek. As for your analogy of an English speaker telling a Chinese scholar of Middle English how to pronounce things, sure, is Middle English different from Modern English? Yes. But is it as foreign to a Modern English speaker as it would be to a Chinese speaker? No. An English-speaker uneducated in Middle English can make out some words, and guess others from context, but even those sufficiently similar to modern English wouldn’t have been pronounced the same way. The Chinese scholar can certainly educate the English speaker on how to pronounce even those words he recognizes. Even Shakespearean English (early modern) wasn’t pronounced the way people read it today (and modern readers miss many of his jokes because of the changed pronunciation). Whether it’s “more foreign” to him is not relevant. Chandrashekara on October 14, 2010 1:09 am Very interesting post. Derived from Greek “oikos”(=home) and “logus” (=study).

ahmed on November 05, 2010 1:08 pm Plz e-mail me some latin and greek words as applicable in English Language with there meanings! Percussim on January 04, 2011 8:38 am I always thought that β was pronounced “v” only when there was two of them, as in saββatou – my happiest Greek derivation is helicopter – rotary + wing, as in pteradactyl Greek derived words in common use are all the ones begining with tele viz; television, telescope, telemetry, telegraph etc where the tele means “far off” or “distant” apparently from “end + perfected” which really fits the usage, I think. Peter on January 08, 2011 11:52 pm Except that “television” is an odd mix of Greek and Latin (just Greek would be “telescope”, but that was already taken). I think β is always pronounced ‘v’ in modern Greek. (I attended a lecture on the Peloponnesian War a while back given by a lecturer who largely used modern Greek pronunciation for non-Anglicized names.

He mentioned some place called “Evia” several times, and it wasn’t until quite a long way into the lecture that I finally realized “Evia” was the island of Euboea. I’d never heard it pronounced that way before, and when he said something that gave away it’s location I go “oh, he must mean Euboea”…and then of course realized that modern Greeks pronounce ‘ευ’ as ‘ev’ and ‘β’ as ‘v’ and ‘οι’ as ‘ee’…so of course they call it that!) Mina on January 09, 2011 3:52 am Indeed, “β” is always pronounced “v” in modern Greek, and Evia is indeed the island of Euboia. Funny how we Greeks sometimes have the opposite problem of anglophones studying ancient Greece in English: we have to “transcript” the English names back to Greek, and sometimes it gets confusing! But it is an asset to know Greek, when reading scientific books that are even irrelevant to Ancient Greece. I am currently reading “Second Nature” by the Nobel-prize winning neuroscientist Gerald Edelman.

There is a whole section on “epistemology”, and the word “hermeneutics”. I can easily associate these terms with their Greek counterparts. Hermeneutics comes from the verb “ερμηνεύω” which means “to interpret”. The ευ here is pronounced “ev”. However in the noun “ερμηνευτική” it is pronounced “ef”. Of course in English, this also goes as a “u” sound… I guess all this is rather confusing for non-Greeks. Anyway, happy new year to all:) Anonymous on February 21, 2011 12:30 am Interesting article!!! I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for posting!!! P.S. Completely in agreement with Entropy!!! 🙂 Percussim on February 21, 2011 8:18 am Why when something is translated are some words left in the original language?

I refer specifically to hypocrite and sabbath, where the former means “actor” and the latter, “rest” – to me replacing these words with their definitions would have helped my understanding, specifically of New Testament scripture, so there must be a reason why they are left untranslated, when the rest of the document is so painstakingly worked on. Percussim on February 21, 2011 8:28 am This may or may not be related to Greek, but as I undertstand it there was once an old English letter called “thorn” and it looked like a “y” and was pronounced “th” – therefore the word “Ye” would have been pronounced “thee” , and “you” would have been pronounced “thou”, some of which are still used by older folk in the North of England and maybe some religious sects in America.

Maybe nobody ever said “Ye” or “You” until it was mistranslated, probably in Shakespearean times and historical plays from those periods are therefore wrong when using the modern forms – just a thought jen on March 01, 2011 11:03 pm i want to know how to speak in Greek and i learned from now a very few words like sighnomi means excuse me when i read a book the characters speak in Greek and i really like to expose myself to different languages when i met a people live in Greece i can speak ,freely and feel confident with my word:” learn from different culture and different languages” venqax on March 11, 2011 4:03 am Percussim: Yes, there once was a letter called thorn, but it looked like a P with the loop in the middle of the stem, instead of on the top. Or like a b over top a p. Early type setter did use a Y for it, since for some reason they didn’t have typeset thorns. So, yes, Ye was actually an old way to spell the or thee in print.

The word Ye as in Ye Olde Whatever, should actually still be pronounced “the”. syco on March 29, 2011 4:51 pm xD funny i read the words and thought it was cool cause im doing something in my english class about greek norse and roman words but honestly i spent so much time reading the coments cause they are funny and interesting that i may not complete the asignment xD Peter on April 02, 2011 12:06 am There’s still a letter called thorn — þ. Typesetters in English never used it, because it was obsolete long before printing was invented. It’s still used in Icelandic. (Typesetters have never used “y”, though; rather “th”. The “y” is a misreading of handwritten þ). Peter on April 02, 2011 12:19 am therefore the word “Ye” would have been pronounced “thee” , and “you” would have been pronounced “thou” No. These “y”s are not misreadings of thorns.

They’ve been pronounced (approximately) “ye” and “you” since Anglo-Saxon times, when they were spelled “ge” and “eow” — those are plural. The singular forms in Old English were “þu” and “þe”, becoming “thou” and “thee” in later English, and simply falling out of fashion in the modern period in favour of the plural “you”. doctortrish on April 10, 2011 3:48 am One grave omission from the list is “phenomenon”, all the more so because most people confuses the plural “phenomena” with the the singular and refer to “phenomenas”. Of course, if the singular were “phenomena”, then the plural would need to be “phenomenata”. We also need to be vigilant of those who say “an anathema”. racquel on April 10, 2011 12:23 pm i wanna learn how to speak greek through english words Nausikaa on April 19, 2011 2:11 pm Greek through english words??? Here you go! Porf.

Xenophon Zolotas, Director of the Bank of Greece’s speech to the IBRD, in 1957 “I always wished to address this Assembly in Greek, but I realized that it would have been indeed Greek to all present in this room. I found out, however, that I could make my address in Greek which would still be English to everybody. With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I shall do it now, using with the exception of articles and prepositions only Greek words“ “Kyrie, I eulogize the archons of the Panethnic Numismatic Thesaurus and the Ecumenical Trapeza for the orthodoxy of their axioms, methods and policies, although there is an episode of cacophony of the Trapeza with Hellas. With enthusiasm we dialogue and synagonize at the synods of our didymous Organizations in which polymorphous economic ideas and dogmas are analyzed and synthesized. Our critical problems such as the numismatic plethora generate some agony and melancholy. This phenomenon is characteristic of our epoch. But, to my thesis, we have the dynamism to program therapeutic practices as a prophylaxis from chaos and catastrophe.

In parallel, a panethnic unhypocritical economic synergy and harmonization in a democratic climate is basic. I apologize for my eccentric monologue. I emphasize my eucharistia to you Kyrie, to the eugenic and generous American Ethnos and to the organizers and protagonists of this Amphictyony and the gastronomic symposia.” mubi on May 29, 2011 3:08 pm this website is so good tha tit made me get hundred in my exams LX on July 02, 2011 10:05 am I am from the US and would say “much kudos”. I’ve never thought of it as a plural any more than “congradulations” (which I guess technically is a plural). Anyway, I am a bit tired of the DOGMATIC and anglophile attitudes that tend to subtly disparage US ENglish (and make false claims about it as here). They seem to permeate any discussion of the English language. Peter on July 10, 2011 8:57 pm Yeah, fancy English-men permeate any discussion of the English language!

I hate it when DOGMATIC francophiles try to tell me that “ahh saw eem pissing bai de weendow” (as spoken in Allo Allo) isn’t proper French, too 🙂 How dare they! Damian K on August 31, 2011 9:44 pm I’m Greek and this is all very true… Dennis Hodgson on September 14, 2011 5:32 am You could, perhaps should, have included the following: chaos, criterion, hubris, hyperbole, mentor, stigma. Mitsos on February 03, 2012 8:58 am re: Phobia “Many people wrongly think that a phobia is a fear. In reality it is more than that. Phobia is an irrational and exaggerated fear of something.” Pardon me, but fear is an instinctive reaction (and an emotion), so it cannot, logically, be rational. Therefore I regard the term “irrational fear” as tautological. VTA on February 23, 2012 8:58 pm I love Greek language, food, dance, culture.

BUT other than some loan words and word-roots, most not commonly used (technical words, etc) I’m not aware of any language that has been influenced by Greek. It has no “descendants” or closely related languages. I’m mystified why many people have the contrary impression. venqax on March 14, 2012 6:11 pm Oz: I think in this case the poster is using *rational* as a synonym for something akin to reasonable. Not technically correct from a psychological POV, but relatively common. So to say a phobia is, “an unreasonable fear”, meaning one that has no basis in reasonable assessment of risk, is understandable– even tho bio-instinctive reactions don’t really involve reason, either. I work in relatively scientific conditions (whatever that means) as maybe you do, and I think we have to remember that words we use in a very strict, term-of-art sense, like *rational*, also a have another life as casual vocabulary for the “regaler” folks in the world. Just sayin’ VTA: You make a point worth weighing.

While it is true that an enormous amount of English’s– and most all W Euro languages’– vocabulary has “Greek roots”, other than that the Greek language is more disimilar from than similar to any other modern language. The only living descendant of ancient Greek is modern Greek and it comprises a branch all by its lonesome in the Indo-European family. There is a lot more to language than vocabulary. Tariq Butt on April 02, 2012 6:29 am Dears, Most of the Greek words give a feeling of affinity with the regional and local languages of Pakistan. These are related to Indo-European Languages. Agora is used as a prefix for place-names scattered over a large area including India also. Moving from Islamabad to Peshawar, huge market for the cows and buffaloes is called Akora-Khattack, consonant shift from g to k, and, famous Agra Mehl, historical place near Delhi, again Delphic. In case of Akora-Khattack, it gives an idea of house of Khattack tribe. It sounds close to meaning of an Urdu word, Ghar, meaning house. So, it represents, a place where some assembly is called.

Similarly, other Greek words mentioned in this assembly of twelve, can be explained in this context. Sophia on April 07, 2012 12:55 pm No, VTA the English relies heavily on the Greek language and Russian was formed from the Greek language. There are so many words in English that are the same in Greek. The letters, however are very different. Franck @Disques Durs Externes Pas Chers on May 27, 2012 9:32 pm Hmm, “Genesis”, I did not know this is the right signification.Thanks for sharing. Regards Peter on October 27, 2012 6:36 am No, VTA the English relies heavily on the Greek language and Russian was formed from the Greek language. Hm. English has a lot of Greek loan-words, but there’s no “genetic” connection. Russian is not closely related to Greek, either, and certainly not “formed from” it (the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russian is perhaps more closely related to the modern Greek alphabet than the Latin alphabet is, but that’s not a linguistic connection). Dale A.

Wood on November 06, 2012 11:43 am @Copywriters Needed/ No Experience Required- $200/hr on September 30, 2008 Obviously, you have no idea tha the word Greek is ALWAYS capitalized (noun or adjective), just as are German, Georgian, Gambian, Ghanan, Gnostic, Graceland, Greenlander, and Galactic Standard (from science fiction). Why cannot you do this capitalization on automatic pilot just like most people in North America, the British Isles, and Australia do? Repeat: Do it on automatic pilot, rather than looking stupid. “I use to study greek in college and always found their religion and culture quite fascinating. I use to know all of the greek mythology books and their “gods” like Zeus, Hercules, etc. That was some food for thought about the greek words.. thanks.” Bruce McClelland on January 21, 2015 2:20 pm I don’t know if this is really on topic, but is anyone else concerned about the word “homophobia”?

Homos in Greek means ‘similar, like’ (as in homogenize), while homo in Latin means “man”. If we permit compounds that are both Latin and Greek (e.g. “hypermedia”), then at best “homophobia” should mean “fear of men”. If we insist that compounds with ancient root morphemes stick to the same language, then “homophobia” would mean “fear of similar things” or perhaps “fear of similarity.” I will check DSM-V to see if there is such a pathology…. Randy Banderob on November 09, 2015 9:00 pm “kudos” is singular just like your synonymous example “glory”. Thus it should be “much kudos” not “many kudos”.

Question: Which 6 letter English word is derived from the Greek meaning ten thousand?
Answer: Myriad